


internet friends are people too

by jennycaakes



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Internet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-31
Updated: 2017-01-31
Packaged: 2018-09-21 05:14:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9533144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jennycaakes/pseuds/jennycaakes
Summary: Clarke and Bellamy have been internet friends for years. They just don't know it.Or: Clarke and Bellamy are friends on Tumblr but not friends in real life.





	

**Author's Note:**

> hi hi! This is my first fic giveaway, this one's for April. she wanted Bellarke where they're super close on Tumblr but not in real life - I hope you like it!
> 
> Just for clarification:  
> jumpermalfunction is Clarke's Tumblr name  
> historyrepeats0001 is Bellamy's Tumblr name
> 
> enjoy!

Clarke settled down in class with a sigh, reaching up to rub the sleep from her eyes. Why she decided to take an 8am when she valued sleep so much more than the average individual was still a mystery, especially on Thursday mornings when her favorite show was on Wednesday nights. Whenever Whispers of the Future aired, Clarke tended to stay up later and later and later, talking online with her friends about what the promo for the next episode meant. Last night had been the season premiere and it had _already_ ended on a cliffhanger. She didn’t get to bed until nearly 2am because of it.

She opened up her laptop as she waited for the professor to arrive, already chunking her hour and fifteen minute class into bits so she could get through them faster.

Her Tumblr was still up and out of habit Clarke refreshed it. The first post was another WOTF post from the episode last night, but her eyes caught on the chat feature in the top corner.

 **historyrepeats0001**  
Morning C. Make it to  
class on time?

Clarke smiled, glancing around her nearly empty classroom before typing out a response.

 **jumpermalfunction**  
sadly yes  
what about you B?

 **historyrepeats0001**  
I don’t have class until 9:30  
but unlike a certain someone  
we know I actually wake up  
at a consistent hour every day.

Clarke laughed, shaking her head just a little at the screen.

 **jumpermalfunction**  
idk I figured maybe you’d  
sleep in for once considering  
jax may or may not be dead

 **historyrepeats0001**  
Pretty sure we came to the  
conclusion that there’s no  
way they’d kill Jax. His and Rami’s  
relationship is like, a Key Part  
of the show and Jax is a fan  
favorite. Don’t stress me out  
this early please.

Clarke laughed again but bit her lip to stop herself from being too loud. The professor walked in dragging her briefcase behind her and Clarke typed out a quick message to B before exiting out of Tumblr. She was sure they’d talk later.

Clarke had been in and out of dozens of fandoms, and the older she got the more friends she made on the internet through her love of TV shows and books and movies. Her latest craze was Whispers of the Future, a newer show about a girl who was snatched in time and brought to the future by time travelers. The concept was a little strange but it was the characters she really loved, as well as the representation the show gave on so many fronts. The show, despite the cheesy plot, had a huge following because of its levels of inclusivity. It still had some work it needed to do, but it had powerful ladies who kicked ass and great special effects, so Clarke stuck around.

B was another reason she stuck around. Clarke had dozens of friends on Tumblr but B was the best. She might not’ve known his name, but he didn’t know hers either. She didn’t need names to make friends. All she knew was that B was a guy with strong feminist beliefs who was very critical about WOTF while still rooting for the show. They’d been in the same group chat on fandom Twitter when they realized they were the only two with the same opinion on if the Big Bad was actually evil or not. From there they bonded over their love of two of the main characters getting together, despite the fandom being divided on that topic, and had gotten close ever sense. 

With a yawn, Clarke switched over to take notes. Fandom could wait a few hours.

* * *

Miller stumbled out of his bedroom ten minutes before he had to leave, barely dressed, squinting angrily at Bellamy in their kitchen. Considering it was still early Bellamy wasn’t entirely sure why his roommate looked so mad.

“Next time you want to stay up until two in the morning,” Miller muttered, “freaking out about your weird ass show, can you at least keep it down?”

Bellamy lowered his mug. “Did I keep you up?” he asked. Miller just narrowed his eyes and reached for his backpack.  “This wouldn’t be a problem if you would just _watch with me_ ,” Bellamy insisted.

“Man, I tried that,” Miller grumbled as he started for the door. “It’s a fine show. I’m just not knees deep into it like you are.” He pointed at Bellamy as he turned to leave. “Either quiet it down or let me know so I can stay at Monty’s.”

“Don’t you want to stay there anyway?” Bellamy teased.

Miller rolled his eyes again before leaving Bellamy alone in their apartment.

Bellamy liked mornings best, when the world was still quiet and everything was slowly waking up around him. He liked leaning against the counter and sipping his coffee and browsing the internet. Even with his lack of sleep the night before, mornings always tended to bring him peace and calm him down.

His internet friend C was already in class and he wanted to make sure that she’d made it. They were in the same time zone, though neither knew exactly where that was, so his 8am was also hers. C was _not_ a morning person. After checking in he finished his coffee and got ready for his day.

Bellamy wasn’t entirely sure how he ended up on Tumblr. It was something he made forever ago when he was angsty and in high school and wanted to talk about mythology with people other than annoying older adults on history forums. People on Tumblr were creative. Their views of the gods were always changing, endlessly creative, and Bellamy loved watching how history could change before his very eyes thanks to modern interpretations. From there, some of the people he followed had started getting involved in different fandoms.

Many were in the Harry Potter fandom, others the Avengers, but Whispers of the Future was something new. Originally he’d wanted nothing to do with it, but there was a gifset that piqued his interest that made him watch the first season on Netflix. He fell in love at once. It wasn’t necessarily about history but still about history, how every move that people made tended to change the future and how people would remember it. He _loved_ the concept. Everyone on the cast was attractive, and they turned out to be generally great people too, and so he stuck around.

Mostly he was a fandom blog now. He couldn’t help himself.

* * *

Campus was close enough to Bellamy and Miller’s apartment that he could walk, and as he was doing so his phone hummed in his pocket.

 **From Octavia**  
is this relevant to your  
interests?  
+1 attachment

Bellamy clicked the link with a frown and browsed as quickly as he could. Octavia cared less about his love for Whispers of the Future than Miller did, but if she happened to see something online that she thought Bellamy would like she tended to forward it his way. It was a link from Spoiler TV commenting on a possible future plotline that totally _proved_ the character who had Supposedly Died in last night’s episode was definitely not dead at all.

 **From Bellamy**  
You’re the best and  
I love you.

 **From Octavia  
** yeah yeah yeah

He copied the link and tapped through his apps, opening up Tumblr as he walked through the halls.

 **historyrepeats0001  
** Quick – have you seen this?!

 **jumpermalfunction**  
yes!!!! omg I was just gonna  
message you!!!!!

 **historyrepeats0001  
** Told you he’s alive.

 **jumpermalfunction**  
it’s not like, definitive proof  
but I feel like infinitely better  
than I did last night okay

 **historyrepeats0001**  
They’re not gonna kill him, C.  
Breathe.

 **historyrepeats0001**  
It’s like when everyone was  
convinced Jax jumping back  
to his future was going to  
end his and Rami’s thing.

 **historyrepeats0001**  
But they just talked about it  
like adults instead of letting  
miscommunication ruin  
everything like most shitty  
shows do. Remember?

 **jumpermalfunction  
** god you calm me so well

Bellamy grinned before sliding his phone back into his pocket.

Octavia and Miller might not care about his TV show, but at least the internet had people who did. Bellamy got lucky with C, considering she lived in the same time zone as him and instead of blatantly ignoring or shutting down his ideas she humored him to the point that he could think straight in the end. Some people got tired of listening to theory after theory after theory, but C wasn’t like that.

He wish he knew her name or what she looked like, but he understood why he didn’t. They were both in college and had grown up in a time where Internet Strangers were a big deal. Obviously as adults it was a little different, but Bellamy didn’t need any of the professors he TA-d for or any future employers finding his _blog_ , okay. That would just make things awkward.

So he was B. Not Bellamy. And absolutely no photos.

Same with C. She was C. Not… Christine. Or Caitlyn. Or Claire. Or whoever she was. Maybe one day they’d cross that bridge of friendship, but for now their side-Twitters and fandom-Tumblrs were enough.

* * *

“Ooh,” Clarke hummed, holding down the reblog button on her phone. It was a gifset showing a parallel between an episode from season one and from the season 4 premiere last night. Raven, across the table, frowned at her. Clarke quickly lowered her phone. “Sorry,” she said.

“You’re the one who wanted to get lunch,” Raven reminded her. Octavia slid into the seat next to Raven as Clarke flipped her phone upside down, making a direct effort to not open it again. “I should’ve known though, considering your show just premiered.”

“What show?” Octavia asked.

“Whispers of the Future,” Clarke said. She didn’t really talk about it in her day to day life (besides trying (and failing) to get her friends to watch it too) but she had her elevator pitch on standby. “It’s about this girl, Senna, who’s snatched from her time because she sets off this Dangerous Radar thing and ends up like, hundreds of years out of time by this time traveler, but then she learns about time travel and how the government has been using it to tweak the past, and—”

Octavia waved her hand. “I _know_ what it’s about,” she muttered. “I just didn’t know you watched it.”

Clarke tried not to get excited. Not that Octavia was her go-to person to talk about things with, like, ever, but having one real life friend to talk about show stuff would be cool. “Do you watch it?” she asked.

“ _Hell_ no.” Clarke frowned at once. “Bellamy’s freaking obsessed with it though. He’s always up texting me theories about whatever’s going to happen next, even though I don’t watch so I have literally no idea what he’s talking about.” She smirked. “Maybe he can text you instead.”

“Maybe not,” Clarke muttered. She had enough people to talk about theories with, and Bellamy Blake did not need to be one of them.

“Maybe this is it,” Raven said to Octavia. “The in we’re looking for!”

Clarke’s frown deepened. “What _in_?” she asked.

“Oh, come on,” Raven said, turning back to Clarke. “You and Bellamy are like…” she trailed off, thinking.

“You don’t get along,” Octavia said, “despite literally all of us knowing that you two _would_ get along if you just changed your tone.” Clarke was going to frown for the rest of forever. “You literally argue with each other on the same side of things,” Octavia said as she pushed as her salad. “You realize that right? You just have different _tones_ so you both sound angry with each other.”

Clarke looked back to Raven who shrugged in agreement. “Maybe if you bonded over this show,” Raven said, “then you could have real conversations and discussions instead of pointless little fights.”

“Hmm.” Clarke wasn’t going to argue with them about this. If they didn’t want to watch her amazingly frustrating but overall great show with her, then whatever. But she was definitely not going to watch with Bellamy. “Whatever. How were your days?”

The three of them slipped into a normal conversation rather than focusing on Bellamy and Clarke, or Clarke’s TV show. Octavia had been in classes all morning and was ready to take a nap, and Raven only had night classes, so they talked about upcoming work that they had to do. A quarter past one Octavia got a text from Lincoln and hurried away, considering she promised to go grocery shopping with him after his grad classes were over.

When it was just Clarke and Raven they cleaned up their things. Raven laughed to herself, and Clarke narrowed her eyes curiously.

“You’ve just been pouting all day,” Raven explained. “About that show, I’m sure.”

“Maybe I’m pouting because you’re being mean to me,” Clarke said.  

“If you can’t even get _Monty_ to watch the show,” Raven said, slinging her arm over Clarke’s shoulder as they walked, “there’s no way you’re getting me to do it.”

“Not even in solidarity?” Clarke asked.

“Hey, I _tried_ ,” Raven says.

“You feel asleep three episodes in.”

“Clarke the acting was _so bad_.”

“But it gets better!”

* * *

**jumpermalfunction  
** question

 **historyrepeats0001  
** Answer.

 **jumpermalfunction**  
do you have like, real life  
friends you talk to about  
wotf

 **historyrepeats0001**  
Unfortunately I’m just stuck  
with you.

 **jumpermalfunction  
** har-har B

 **historyrepeats0001**  
I tried getting my roommate to  
watch but it’s not really his  
thing. Same with my sister.  
I don’t need real life friends when  
I have an entire internet of  
friends.

 **jumpermalfunction**  
but don’t you ever just wanna  
like

 **jumpermalfunction  
** gush???

 **historyrepeats0001**  
I mean I still do. They just don’t  
really listen.

 **historyrepeats0001**  
That’s what you’re for. And I  
mean that in the most sincere way  
possible. I think I’d go crazy without  
you listening to me talk out of  
my ass.

 **historyrepeats0001**  
Besides I feel closer to you than I  
do with a lot of them sometimes.  
Is that weird?

 **jumpermalfunction  
** no, same for me with you

 **jumpermalfunction**  
thanks B, you always make  
me feel better

 **historyrepeats0001  
** Anytime, C.

* * *

Clarke was _seriously_ not in the mood to be out. She didn’t really like going out on Thursdays as it was considering she had Friday classes, but she’d been down for most of the day anyway. She knew some people might think it was lame that she was getting so emotional over a TV show, but it had been on her mind literally the entire day.

The character they thought was going to die didn’t die, but he was in some sort of weird coma vegetative state and no one could figure out how to wake him up, and Clarke was stressed. Okay? She was stressed. Jax was one of her favorite characters and had the most depth to him and no one had any real predication as to when he was going to wake up. Not even B could talk her out of her slump. She was distraught. And honestly, it was perfectly acceptable to be distraught about characters.

Clarke was so tired of people acting like caring about fictional things were lame.

The couch dipped and Clarke looked over to see who it was, surprised to find Bellamy beside her. He didn’t look like he was in the mood to be at a house party, either. He sipped from his plastic cup in silence.

“What’s got your panties in a twist, Mr. Grump?” Clarke asked. Bellamy turned to look at her, his eyes narrowed, before he took another sip.

“Can’t say,” he answered.

“Oh, of course,” Clarke said, sarcasm thick in her voice. “The secret angst of Bellamy Blake. Totally. Got it.”

Bellamy rolled his eyes. “I’m not in the mood to be mocked, Griffin. Octavia’s already been teasing me all night, alright?”

Clarke studied him for a moment. Octavia doesn’t really _tease_ Bellamy about a lot of things. And what was it she had said at lunch the other day? It was… a risk, maybe. But what if they were both in sour moods for the same reason?

“You watch Whispers of the Future,” Clarke said slowly. “Right? Octavia mentioned it.”

Bellamy’s face changed at once. “Maybe.”

Clarke hesitated. But. She was dying. She had to talk about it. “Are you stressed about Jax?” she asked.

Bellamy twisted to look at her head on. “Fuck,” he said. “You seriously watch Whispers?”

“Yes,” Clarke hissed. They both glanced over their shoulders as though someone was listening to them, waiting to make a joke. When they found all of their friends scattered, still in conversation with one another, Clarke turned back to him. “I don’t want to be here at all. I feel like I’m in mourning.”

“Don’t be dramatic,” Bellamy said with a little laugh. “He’s not dead yet.”

“Then why are you pouting?” Clarke asked.

“Because he’s my favorite fucking character,” Bellamy answered. Clarke couldn’t stop the smile that grew on her face. “He’s got the most depth out of all of them, except maybe Ellis. God, that scene where he spoke for the first time?”

“I _know_ ,” Clarke gushed. A smile lit up Bellamy’s face too, and then she paused. This was Bellamy Blake she was talking to. He seemed to have the same realization that she did. It’s not like they were friends. Frenemies, maybe, but not buddy-buddy. Like Raven and Octavia said, the two of them tended to argue. This could turn out to be just another thing for them to disagree on. “Okay,” Clarke said after a moment. Time to call a truce. “Important question.”

“Feels big,” Bellamy responded.

Again, Clarke found herself smiling. “Who’s the worst character on the show?”

Bellamy looked at her, tipping his head back as though accepting a challenge. “Do you mean poorly written, plain evil, or what?”

“Your interpretation,” Clarke said.

“I fucking hate Skot,” Bellamy said. “On all levels.”

Clarke grinned. Maybe tonight wouldn’t be that bad after all.

* * *

**From Bellamy**  
I’ve had your number forever  
just in case of Octavia related  
emergencies

 **From Clarke  
** and group chats of course

 **From Bellamy**  
And group chats of course. But  
I just found these spoilers. Do  
you like spoilers?

 **From Clarke  
** ………………yes

 **From Clarke**  
are these the photos from set  
tho bc if so I’ve seen them

 **From Bellamy**  
Damn Griffin, how do you manage  
to see everything first?

 **From Clarke  
** internet

* * *

Bellamy wasn’t having a great day.

It was rare that Internet Things really got to him, especially when it wasn’t related to content, but every now and then fans could get nasty. It was bad enough when they went after the actors of the show, as though they could control the writing or the plot, but even worse when they would go after each other.

Fandom was meant to be a place that encouraged discussion and boosted one another up when the direction wasn’t going the way they wanted it to. But there were always bad seeds who thrived on hate. Bellamy happened to get in the middle of it.

He was _really_ just trying to have a conversation. Seriously. But whoever was on the other end had an _army_ of followers and soon his entire Twitter feed was full of death threats and hateful messages.

 **historyrepeats0001**  
Sometimes I fucking hate this  
fandom. And the internet.

 **jumpermalfunction  
** what happened??? you ok??

 **historyrepeats0001  
** Twitter.

There was a pause in the Tumblr chat, C probably checking out whatever was going on, before she returned.

 **jumpermalfunction**  
THAT’S IT I’M SAYING  
SOMETHING  

 **historyrepeats0001**  
Whoa, calm down C. I’m really  
okay.

 **jumpermalfunction  
** IT’S BULLSHIT

Bellamy smiled.

 **jumpermalfunction**  
YOU’RE A GOOD GUY AND YOU  
WERE LITERALLY JUST TRYING  
TO HAVE A GOD DAMN  
CONVERSATION. FUCK

 **historyrepeats0001  
** C! I’m okay!

 **jumpermalfunction  
** I’M NOT

Bellamy’s Twitter blew up a few moments later, C personally @ing each person who dared to say anything rude to Bellamy. C might not have had an army of followers like the stranger who had started this, but she did have a few big names following her as well. And none of them were a fan of fandom hate.

Soon Bellamy’s notifications were flooded with love and support from people he’d never met, and slowly the people full of hate were gone, and Bellamy felt warm.

 **historyrepeats0001**  
You don’t have to look out for  
me. But thank you.

 **jumpermalfunction**  
you’re my best fucking friend on  
here. no one gets to shit talk and  
get away with it.

 **historyrepeats0001  
** Have I told you that you’re awesome?

 **jumpermalfunction**  
a few times but it’s always nice to  
hear again

 **jumpermalfunction**  
seriously B, you’re one of my best  
friends. internet doesn’t change that.

 **historyrepeats0001  
** Yeah, C. You too.

* * *

The thing about having friends on the internet was that when Clarke wanted to talk to B about things outside of fandom, like hopes and dreams for the future, or what the name of the next Star Wars movie meant, or how her day went, was always harder when she had to wait for him to check one of his apps.

Like, when Clarke found out that assholes on the internet were attacking B for his opinion on a character, like assholes do, it had been going on for almost an hour. An hour! If he’d been able to text her instead of waiting for her to get online, she could’ve come to his defense immediately. He was her friend, and she didn’t like that he was stuck in limbo in the meantime.

So she crossed the bridge that they’d been lingering on the edge of for a while.

 **jumpermalfunction**  
if I asked you for your phone number  
so we could text instead of waiting for  
tumblr to refresh or whatever, would  
that be weird

Of course, in true Tumblr friendship fashion, it took B a few hours to respond.

 **historyrepeats0001**  
Honestly with the midseason finale  
coming up I was going to ask the  
same thing.

 **historyrepeats0001  
** 610-555-1925.

 **historyrepeats0001**  
I’m in class until late so no rush. Or  
if you change your mind that’s cool  
too. The internet can be weird.

 **jumpermalfunction  
** don’t be dumb. I trust you

Clarke copy and pasted B’s number into her phone, already thinking of what sort of greeting she wanted to use. Something with her name, not just a letter like they’d gone off of for months, hoping he’d tell her his too. Bryan, maybe. Or Brandon. Bob?

(Autofill: Bellamy Blake)

That was weird.

Clarke backspaced the number completely. Maybe she didn’t copy it correctly, and considering she’d been texting Bellamy a bit more often than usual these days maybe—

Wait.

Clarke lowered her phone. Bellamy loved Whispers of the Future, just like B. Bellamy was obviously in the same time zone as Clarke (seeing as they went to the same school), just like B. Bellamy said his favorite character was Jax, who was also B’s favorite character. Sometimes Bellamy would text Clarke updates that she’d just sent to B on Tumblr. B had a sister. Bellamy had a sister.

 _No fucking way_.

She scrambled to her laptop and opened the chat thread so she could see it and physically type out the number that B sent.

610-555-1925

(Autofill: Bellamy Blake)

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”

* * *

Bellamy didn’t look up from his laptop when someone sat across from him in the café. People sat across from him all the time, considering there weren’t that many seats, and he had work to do.

“Bellamy.”

He startled at the sound of Clarke’s voice, looking up to find her sitting across from him. “Clarke,” he rasped.

She smiled. He had to admit he liked it when she smiled. Ever since they bonded that night over their love of the same lame TV show, she’d been smiling at him a lot more. Bellamy preferred the smiles to the arguing. And he preferred their real conversations to the heated debates.

“I was thinking,” she started, “that the Whispers midseason finale is coming up.”

“It is,” he agreed. It was that week, actually, just a few days away.

“Would you want to watch together?” Bellamy considered it for a moment. He tended to get loud when watching Whispers of the Future, talking to the TV screen, frantically messaging C to get her reactions too. Clarke’s smile brightened before she said, “I get really into it, too.”

“Yeah?”

“I won’t judge you. Too harshly.”

Bellamy snorted. “Alright, Griffin. My place or yours?”

* * *

**jumpermalfunction  
** question

 **historyreapeats0001  
** Answer.

 **jumpermalfunction  
** we’re friends right

 **historyrepeats0001**  
What’s wrong? Of course  
we’re friends.

 **jumpermalfunction**  
idk. some people think internet  
friends are weird. like you  
can’t really get to know someone  
over the computer.

 **historyrepeats0001  
** Is that what you think?

 **jumpermalfunction  
** no

 **historyrepeats0001**  
Me neither. Because the truth  
of it is I do know you, and you  
know me, and the computer  
doesn’t change that. What  
happened?

 **jumpermalfunction**  
idk B I just feel weird about  
something

 **historyrepeats0001**  
Is it the number thing? You  
don’t have to text me. It’s really  
okay, it doesn’t offend me.

 **historyrepeats0001**  
Like do I want to text you? Yeah,  
but chat works too.

 **jumpermalfunction**  
it’s not the number thing!! I told  
you that I trust you and I meant  
that

 **jumpermalfunction**  
but like what if we just think we  
know each other but we don’t?

 **historyrepeats0001**  
Want me to give you my list of C  
facts that I have on the back burner?  
Because I will.

 **historyrepeats0001**  
-You have a shitty relationship with  
your mom and you wish that it was  
better  
-You prefer coffee over tea because  
it gives you more energy  
-You like the characters who have to  
make the hard choices  
-If you could drop out of med studies for  
art you’d do it in a second  
-You care about your friends more than  
yourself and will drop everything to  
make sure they’re okay

 **historyrepeats0001  
** Should I go on?

 **historyrepeats0001**  
The internet is weird. Fine. Whatever.  
But because we got to know each other  
online doesn’t mean we haven’t gotten  
to know each other.

 **historyrepeats0001**  
Hell, C. I feel like I’d follow you into  
battle if you asked me to. You’ve  
always been here to listen to me. Not  
just about TV shows but about my  
life and my stupid drama and my  
annoying classes.

 **historyrepeats0001**  
Maybe I’m talking too much and  
coming on too strong. Sorry. But of  
course I care about you.

 **jumpermalfunction  
** I care about you too

 **historyrepeats0001**  
If you need to me to step away for  
a bit then I can, okay?

 **jumpermalfunction  
** no, no, no don’t do that

 **jumpermalfunction  
** this is confusing

 **jumpermalfunction**  
I made it sound like I don’t care  
about you or something but I do

 **jumpermalfuntion**  
stuff is happening in real life and  
it’s confusing

 **historyrepeats0001  
** Want to talk about it?

 **jumpermalfunction  
** yeah. soon

* * *

Miller answered the door to his and Bellamy’s apartment when Clarke knocked, and it was only because he was on the way out. He had a bag packed and looked tired. “Honestly,” Miller said as Clarke entered, “I knew with the midseason whatever tonight that I wasn’t going to get any sleep.”

“You don’t need an excuse to stay the night at your boyfriend’s house,” Bellamy called from the couch. Miller smirked.

“Tell Monty hi,” Clarke said as they traded places, Miller leaving the apartment while Clarke stepped inside. She shut the door behind her and looked up to see Bellamy already stationed by the TV. The station was showing the episode from last week to prepare the viewers for the midseason finale, and it was about halfway through. “Hey,” she called.

He smiled at her. “Hey. I made popcorn?”

Clarke laughed. “At the rate I’ll be stress eating it’ll be gone before the new episode even starts.” She kicked off her shoes by the door and crossed the apartment to join him on the couch. “How was your day?” she asked.

Bellamy’s smile slipped. “Alright,” he said. He shook his head a little. “I don’t know.”

She arched an eyebrow at him. “You don’t know how your day was?” This was low for Clarke. She knew that. But it’s not like she could just kind of burst out and say _hey remember that girl you’ve been friends with online for like, two years now? It’s actually me!_ She had to ease into it somehow. “What happened?”

Bellamy kept his eyes on the screen where their faves were discussing some big plan on getting their hands on a time-jumper, but he sighed. Bellamy and Clarke (not B and C) had gotten closer in the past few weeks since they started talking about their show. But they weren’t close. Not like their internet selves. Clarke didn’t push though, not wanting to seem too eager or too interested or anything weird.

“You can’t laugh at me,” Bellamy finally said.

Clarke pressed her lips together to hide her smile. “That makes me think you’re going to say something that will make me laugh,” she said.

Bellamy turned to look at her, his eyes bright. “Do you have a Tumblr?” he asked.

Clarke allowed her smile to grow. “I do. Do you?”

“Yeah,” he said. “Since high school.” He shrugged. “It’s easier to talk about TV shows with people on the internet who are just as into it as you, you know?”

“I know,” Clarke said.

“Yeah. Well.” Bellamy looked back to the TV. The scene had shifted from the gang all together to one of the characters by Jax’s side, the boy who was in his weird time-induced coma. “I have this friend online,” he said. “And I think maybe we’re fighting? I don’t know.” He shook his head. “I don’t like to make people uncomfortable,” Bellamy said gruffly. “And I think maybe I did with her.”

“She say so?” Clarke asked.

Bellamy hesitated. “No.”

“I feel like to be friends with _you_ ,” Clarke teased, “she’d have to be very opinionated and strong, no?”

Bellamy tipped his head to the side. “So you think she’d say it,” he clarified, and Clarke nodded. Bellamy reached out to the armrest of the couch where he’d set down his phone, picking it up as though checking for a message, and sighed before putting it down. “We’ve been friends for a while,” he said. “I really feel like I know her. Is that weird?”

“No,” Clarke said. “Internet friends are still friends.”

He let out a long breath before smiling. “Thanks, Clarke.”

* * *

The midseason finale of Whispers of the Future was… intense, to say the least.

There was action. And there was love. And at one point Clarke and Bellamy were both silent, gripping one another’s hands so tightly that their knuckles were white. There were twists they couldn’t have even predicted, a new Big Bad, and a death that had Bellamy’s chest feeling a little too tight. By the time it was over Bellamy was already eager for the spring premiere and he knew, by the look on Clarke’s face, that she was ready too.

When the credits rolled and there was no _Next Week on Whispers of the Future_ , the two of them sunk backwards on the couch.

“Well. Jax is alive,” Bellamy finally said. Clarke laughed, and Bellamy felt himself smile too. It was a heavy finale, but at least there was that one bright spot. “Damn.”

“Damn,” Clarke echoed. Honestly, Bellamy was happy that he and Clarke had finally gotten to talking to one another about this show. It was a different experience to have someone in the same room as him, cursing under their breath as they watched a show they both loved. He enjoyed it. They might not have been friends yet, he and Clarke, but at least they were friendly. “Do you have any alcohol?” Clarke asked. “I feel like I need alcohol after that.”

Bellamy laughed brightly and stood. He grabbed his phone from the armrest and stood, off to the kitchen. “Hard liquor? Or Wine?”

“Wine,” Clarke called after him.

He dug around his cabinets for a while trying to find the wineglasses he knew he had before his phone hummed in his pocket.

 **From Clarke**  
hey B, it’s C. sorry I didn’t  
text you during the show  
I was a little overwhelmed with  
well, the show

Bellamy held his phone in his hand and stared at the message, confused. He read it once. Twice.

The (…) popped up.

 **From Clarke**  
also sorry for kind of  
freaking out online earlier. it’s  
also a little overwhelming to  
know that you actually already  
know your internet best friend  
in real life

 **From Clarke**  
and even more overwhelming  
when you’re not really that  
great of friends with them even  
though you actually really adore  
the them you got to know

Bellamy turned on his heel and marched back into the living room, his phone still in his hand, and stopped when he saw her curled on the couch waiting for him. He held up his phone and waited, and Clarke remained neutral.

“Is this some sort of joke?” he asked.

“You think I would joke about this?” Clarke asked.

Clarke was C. For _years_ , Clarke had been C. For years, his online best friend had been going to the same school as him, in the same room as him, friends with his friends. He couldn’t figure out how he felt, and couldn’t figure out what to say.

“When did you figure it out?” he finally asked.

“When you sent me your number but I already had it,” Clarke said.

Bellamy slipped his phone into his pocket, dragged his hand over his face, and strode back into the kitchen. Clarke called after him but settled down back onto the couch when he didn’t return. Bellamy went back to the cabinets, found the wine glasses, poured both of them giant glasses, and returned to her. He extended the glass to her and she accepted it carefully before he sat beside her. He should’ve brought the bottle out, because after two swigs his glass was nearly empty.

“Okay,” Bellamy finally said.

“You hate me,” Clarke said.

Bellamy shook his head. “No.” No. He didn’t hate her. At all. He was absurdly confused, but how could he hate her? He trusted C so much, and if C was Clarke that meant he trusted Clarke too. “It’s just a lot to process.” Clarke nodded in agreement. “Damn, no wonder I could never get you spoilers you hadn’t already seen,” he said. “You were the one sending them to me.” Clarke laughed at that, and Bellamy turned to look at her. “No fucking way,” he said.

“That’s what I said.”

“No _fucking way_ ,” he said another time. Clarke’s smile grew. She sipped from her glass. “God,” Bellamy said dramatically. “I can’t believe I care about Clarke Griffin so much.”

She rolled her eyes at him, but she was still smiling. “So this isn’t weird?” she said.

“Are you kidding? It’s _so_ weird.” Bellamy reached out for her and she didn’t pull away. “But so are internet friends,” he teased.

“Nah,” Clarke shook her head. “Internet friends aren’t weird.” She squeezed his hand and Bellamy felt warm. C had always made Bellamy feel warm. But to have a name for her, a face, a person he knew to be strong and kind and loyal, it was a different type of warm.

* * *

The two of them ended up falling asleep on the couch together. After getting over their strange friendship and how it had developed, they _dove in_ to discussing their show. They were up late, browsing Tumblr, sending theories back and forth as they discussed. In the morning, Clarke woke up first.

 _Internet friends aren’t weird_ , she thought strongly. _Neither are internet crushes_.

Because when you know someone so well, it’s easy to have a crush on them. She’d been holding out since she didn’t know his name or what he looked like (because who was Clarke kidding, those things were at least a little important). To know that Bellamy was B originally felt like the universe had played a cruel prank on her. But now, looking at him with the morning light streaming through the windows, lighting up the soft freckles across the bridge of his nose and the curve of his cheeks, Clarke changed her mind.

Bellamy being B was a blessing in disguise.  

“C,” Bellamy rasped, still half-asleep, and Clarke smiled. “Don’t you have class?”

“I’m skipping today,” she said. Bellamy hummed, curling back into the couch. “Don’t you have a consistent sleep schedule, B?” she teased.

Bellamy let out a breath of a laugh. “I’m skipping today,” he said back.

Clarke closed her eyes again to fall back asleep. They could talk about it later.

**Author's Note:**

> INTERNET FRIENDS ARE GREAT AND I LOVE ALL Y'ALL


End file.
